By Anish Vishwakoti, ProWrestling.net Staffer, (@AVX_9001)
WWE 205 Live on WWE Network
Taped and streamed on May 14, 2019 from London, England at O2 Arena
Drake Maverick welcomed everyone to an international edition of 205 Live, laying out the Fatal 4 Way. Maverick also announced that Ligero would be taking on Tony Nese in non-title bout in the main event… The broadcast team was Byron Saxton, Nigel McGuinness, and Aiden English…
1. Mark Andrews vs. Jack Gallagher vs. Humberto Carrillo vs. James Drake in a four-way. As the match got underway Drake dipped out of the ring to let the others go at it. After an interesting triple headlock, the three faces exchanged clotheslines and with Drake laughing on the outside they stopped to bring him back into the ring and all four men exchanged arm drags and flips. Drake got the best of the exchange after Carrillo whipped Andrews out of the ring and rocked Gallagher with a cross body.
Drake caught Carrillo with a spinning heel kick after slamming Andrews on the apron and went for the cover. Only got a two count so he went to stomping Carrillo in the corner, isolating himself from the others. Drake locked Carrillo in a neck crank, but Gallagher interrupted before he could do any significant damage.
This gave Carrillo the time needed to recover and catch Drake with a handspring kick and then knocked him out of the ring. Carrillo followed him out there and was surprised by a hyped up Mark Andrews who caught both Carrillo and Drake with consecutive cross bodies and moonsaults. With those three men down, the newly face Gallagher whipped out his umbrella ‘William’ and hit the three men with an umbrella assist dive.
Gallagher then rolled Andrews into the ring and hit him with a delayed vertical suplex. He wasn’t able to take advantage however as he went to the top rope. Andrews and Drake fought on the same turnbuckle Gallagher was perched on and Andrews hit Drake with a super poisoned Frankensteiner before Carrillo caught Drake with a splash. All four men got to their feet after no covers went through and Andrews was able to pull off a double Pele kick on Gallagher and Carrillo. Carrillo clotheslined Andrews out of the ring however and rolled up the stunned Gallagher to get the pinfall victory.
Humberto Carrillo defeated Jack Gallagher, Humberto Carrillo, and Mark Andrews in a four-way.
Anish’s Thoughts: A really fun and fast paced fatal four-way match to open up the show. A lot of the focus was on showcasing Drake’s dastardly deeds, and the match did that in a really effective way while allowing the three babyfaces to get in their dives, flips, and umbrella gimmicks to get the crowd hyped. The super Frankensteiner was a really cool high spot and a close call, which made me surprised that the match ended with a roll up. It didn’t take away from the match per se, but I feel that among the chaos of the match that finish might be forgotten.
After the match we saw a promo by Ariya Daivari from inside a tanning bed, saying once again that he can beat Tony Nese anytime. We also saw a video package about Ligero in order to get the crowd acquainted with him before he would fight in the main event…
Finally, we saw a promo from the Lucha House Party backstage, retaliating against the Singh Brothers whining from last week, as they said that they didn’t sneak up on the Singh Brothers last week. They ended by chanting ‘Lucha’…
2. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Tony Nese vs. Ligero in a non-title match. As the two got ready to lock up they allowed the crowd to shower Ligero with chants of his name in his home country of England. They started with a wrist lock exchange which ended with Ligero in the arm-lock of Nese. Ligero wriggled out and whipped Nese to the ropes before catching him with a victory roll which both men reversed again and again at least ten times. Charles Robinson had to count about twenty in a row as they kept reversing. This was pretty funny, with both men acknowledging the veteran referee for his effort right there.
They got back into it with a series of clothesline attempts and dodges, with both men having to settle for chopping each other. Nese eventually tripped Ligero and went for the cover, but Ligero kicked out and rolled out. Nese followed him outside only to be caught with a handstand scissors whip by Ligero. This bought the English superstar some space, but Nese didn’t give him much, rolling him back in the ring and locking a body scissors.
Ligero muscled out, forcing Nese to uppercut him into the corner and tease a running knee wash. Ligero got out of dodge however and attempted a German suplex, which Nese flipped out of. Ligero then hit Nese with another victory roll, but Nese kicked out and hit him with a quick gutbuster. Nese then locked in the body scissors again. Ligero tried to force a pinfall twice, but Nese didn’t let up and wedged in the submission.
Eventually Nese kicked Ligero off himself and tried for a running maneuver, but Ligero reversed into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Ligero followed up with some quick kicks ending with one to knock Nese down. He went for a cover but Nese kicked out. Ligero tried to follow up with some more kicks, but Nese reversed and caught Ligero with a running boot to the head.
Nese and Ligero then battled to the ropes, where Nese attempted a springboard moonsault. Ligero reversed the moonsault twice in a really quick and unpredictable sequence. Ligero attempted his C4L DDT off the ropes, but Nese ducked and rolled to the outside. Ligero didn’t let this faze him and he followed Nese to the outside with a tope.
Ligero then rolled Nese into the ring and went to the top rope, but Nese chased him and hit a super huracanrana. Nese the went to the top rope and even when Ligero tried to knock him off, he persevered, knocked Ligero off and hit a 450 splash. Nese covered, but only got a two count again. Ligero and Nese battled to their feet, with Liger even dazing Nese enough at one point to try for the C4L, however Nese pushes Ligero off and directly hit him with a one armed powerbomb and then again into the corner to set up for the running knee. Nese hit the running knee wash and got the pinfall victory.
Tony Nese defeated Ligero in a non-title match.
As Nese and Ligero posed in the ring to the adulation of the crowd, Ariya Daivari made his way through the crowd and jumped both men. He was met with “Who Are Ya?” chants from the crowd. Daivari didn’t let this faze him and hit Nese with the Devil Lock clothesline to lay him out…
Anish’s Thoughts: Another really fun match to cap off what was a pretty sweet episode of 205 Live. I appreciate WWE taking the time to include the NXT UK talent who slotted in perfectly, and while they would have been familiar to the UK crowd, I think it would have helped their perception to anyone out there that watches 205 Live but not NXT UK. Ligero and Nese did a really great job building a fun match with no back story and decidedly very few stakes, they could have easily made this a title match for some added oomph, but either way it got the job done.
Overall, this was a really fun show with all of the talent working really hard to put some good matches together. While the ending with Daivari laying out Nese was not the most captivating go home sight for the WWE Cruiserweight Title match at MITB, it at least got the job done in making Daivari seem like a somewhat credible threat.
Check below for the latest Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast with Jason Powell and guest Justin Credible discussing his sobriety, what triggered his PTSD, filming the Credible documentary, returning to the ring, his thoughts on WWE, AEW, the NWA Crockett Cup, and more.
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